Miyajimarin (Miyajima Public Aquarium)

Miyajima Public Aquarium is a small facility located on popular tourist destination Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture. (Miyajima is best known as the home of World Heritage Site Itsukushima Shrine.)  This collection promotes itself as a place to “See and experience the entire Seto Inland Sea!”, and a good deal of the exhibits here focus on the creatures and environments of the surrounding areas.  If the facility limited itself to a representation of the local environment and animals, I think it could be interesting enough.  But perhaps due to a lack of confidence in the attractiveness of the local creatures, the aquarium has brought in the usual line-up of charismatic aquatic creatures from other geographic areas: small clawed otters, penguins, sea lions, etc.

Local Environs

The entrance area is decorated with a recreation of the orange architecture of the Itsukushima Shrine.

After entering, visitors first encounter an exhibit of the mudflats found near Itsukushima Shrine.

Blessings of the Sea

After the mudflats, visitors ascend to the second floor where they will see the “Blessings of the Sea” area which focuses on explaining oyster aquaculture in the Seto Inland Sea.

Visitors can peer straight down into the oyster tank which, consistent with oyster aquaculture, features oysters attached to hanging ropes.

This tank occupies two floors.  The below photo shows the part of the oyster tank which is visible on the second floor.

Later, when visitors descend to the first floor, they will encounter the bottom part of the oyster tank.

From Mountains to the Sea

This area is said to recreate the landscape from the upper river basin down to where the river flows into the sea.

Barbel eels (Plototus lineatus)

There was a display of Japanese horseshoe crabs (Tachypleus tridentatus) .

The following exhibits show recreations of the upper river environment.

Sea of Healing

This was the largest fish-inhabited tank in the aquarium.  Like the oyster tank, it occupied two floors.  The photo below shows the part of the tank visible from the second floor.

This tank included a pair of Blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus)  that were about 1.5 meters in length.

The below photo shows the part of the large tank visible from the first floor.

Whales of the Seto Inland Sea

There was a large tank housing two Sunameri (Finless Porpoises).  These animals live in the Seto Inland Sea.  The Sunameri tank was about 12 to 14 meters long, about 7 to 9 meters wide, and about 4 to 5 meters deep.  The tank was plain and unadorned and looked like the inside of a swimming pool.

Various Small Exhibits

The aquarium featured many small tanks housing ocean creatures.

Penguins and Sea lions

As mentioned earlier, the aquarium’s collection also included some animals not native to the Hiroshima area.  These cute and charismatic creatures are likely included to help attract increased numbers of visitors.  The first of these creatures that I encountered were the penguins.  Like the “Sea of Healing”, this exhibit could also be viewed from both the first and second floors.  The part of the exhibit visible on the second floor featured a recreated rock cliff.

There was also a part of the exhibit where visitors could walk above the swimming penguins.

The penguins that were viewed from above could also be viewed from below.

They can also be viewed from the side.

This is what the penguin exhibit looks like from the first floor.

Directly across from the penguins were the sea lions.

Asian small clawed otters

Another pair of cute charismatic animals was the Asian small clawed otters. Their tank was about 3 or 4 meters long and only about 2 meters wide.

Live Show Pool

Outside, there was a pool where sea lions did live performances.

Food and Souvenirs

The Miyajimarine Kitchen was found on the second floor.  This restaurant used the ticket vending machine system.  Customers buy tickets for what they want to eat and place their orders by handing the ticket to the employee manning the counter. 

This system is often confusing for first-time visitors to Japan.  Fortunately, this restaurant posted an illustrated explanation.

The restaurant also had a list of food ingredients for customers with allergies.

The restaurant had 52 seats.

I ate a curry rice and coke set that cost 800 yen.

The aquarium also had a very well-stocked souvenir shop with lots of cute original characters.

Rocky Shore of Friendship

There was a touch pool which featured small crustaceans and invertebrates which visitors well allowed to handle.  Visitors were also allowed to put their feet into the shallow pool.

The aquarium had a mascot modeled after a sunameri finless porpoise.  This sunameri was a human-sized stuffed doll.

This sunameri-costumed staff member was stationed near the boat landing to help attract visitors to the aquarium.

Getting There

Visitors can travel from Hiroshima Station by the JR train line (about 25 minutes) and get off at the Miyajimaguchi station.  From the station, it is about a 5-minute walk to the Miyajima pier where you can catch the ferry to Miyajima Island.  A ticket for the ferry was 180 yen. After landing on Miyajima Island, it is about a 25-minute walk from the pier to the aquarium. Along the way, visitors walk past the World Heritage Itsukushima Shrine and many small shops.  Admission to the aquarium for adults was 1400 yen.  Junior high school and elementary school students were 700 yen.  Young children aged 4 and above, but not yet in school, were 400 yen.  Children younger than 4 years old were allowed in free.

(Note: All photos in this post were taken during a visit made on November 24, 2018.  The comments in this post are based on observations made at that time.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)